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50 free Provence trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Provence has been a Greek colony, Rome's first province beyond the Alps, the seat of the papacy and the playground of painters, and this quiz covers all of it: the founding of Marseille around 600 BC, the counts and Good King René, the popes of Avignon, the mistral wind, the Camargue flamingos, and the food, wine and games that define the region today. Easy questions ask which sea it borders and which fish stew Marseille is famous for; harder ones dig into the underwater painted cave near Cassis, the rheumatic champion who invented pétanque, the Roman aqueduct that carried water to Nîmes, and why a mountain in the Vaucluse looks snow-capped all year. It suits anyone planning a trip, French-culture buffs, foodies and geography quiz nights that want a round with sunshine in it. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on Provence, its towns, its landmarks, its artists and its cuisine, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which sea borders Provence to the south?
The Mediterranean
The region stretches from the lower Rhône in the west to the Italian border in the east.
Q 02Besides being the capital of Provence, Marseille holds which distinction among French cities?
It is the oldest city in France
Greek settlers from Phocaea founded it around 600 BC, making it one of Europe's oldest continuously inhabited places.
Q 03Where does the name Provence come from?
The Roman Provincia Romana
It was Rome's first province beyond the Alps, and "the province" simply stuck as the region's name.
Q 04Greek colonists from which city founded Massalia, now Marseille, around 600 BC?
Phocaea
A second wave arrived around 540 BC when the Persians destroyed Phocaea, on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor.
Q 05Which Massalian navigator sailed to Iceland around 330 BC and first described the midnight sun?
Pytheas
He also worked out that the tides were linked to the phases of the moon and was the first scientist to describe drift ice.
Q 06Aquae Sextiae, founded by the Romans in 122 BC, is which modern town?
Aix-en-Provence
It was the capital of the counts of Provence until 1481, and Cézanne was born there in 1839.
Q 07Which Roman general defeated the Cimbri and Teutons in 102 BC, ending resistance in Provence?
Gaius Marius
He then built roads inland to Apt and Tarascon and along the coast from Italy to Spain.
Q 08The Pont du Gard aqueduct bridge carried water to which Roman city?
Nîmes
Its three tiers of limestone arches rise 48.8 metres, and it later survived as a toll bridge.
Q 09How is the entrance to the painted Cosquer Cave near Marseille, found in 1985, reached?
Through a passage 37 metres under the sea
The Cosquer Cave in the Calanque de Morgiou shows bison, seals, auks, horses and outlines of human hands.
Q 10The traditional coat of arms of Provence, four red bars on gold, dates from rule by which dynasty?
The House of Aragon
Douce I married Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona in 1112, and Aragonese counts ruled until 1246.
Q 11Which pope moved the Curia to Avignon in 1309?
Clement V
Seven popes reigned in Avignon until 1377, then three antipopes stayed on until 1423.
Q 12How many popes reigned in Avignon between 1309 and 1377?
Seven
The Palais des Papes they built became the largest Gothic palace in Europe.
Q 13What distinction does the Palais des Papes in Avignon hold?
Largest Gothic building of the Middle Ages
It is really two palaces: Benedict XII's austere old palace and Clement VI's extravagant new one.
Q 21What is the name of the cold, dry wind that blows down the Rhône Valley?
The mistral
It blows about a hundred days a year in Marseille and clears the dust from the air, giving Provence the light painters love.
Q 22What is the highest peak in Provence outside the Maritime Alps, at 1,909 metres?
Mont Ventoux
Its bare white limestone summit makes it look snow-capped all year; Petrarch described climbing it in 1336.
Q 23Which mountain near Aix did Paul Cézanne paint again and again?
Montagne Sainte-Victoire
He could see the limestone ridge from his home; Matisse and Picasso both called him the father of them all.
Q 14"Good King René", remembered as the last ruler of Provence, was also king of what?
Naples
He only lived in Provence for the last ten years of his life, and on his nephew's death in 1481 the county passed to Louis XI.
Q 15In what year was Provence legally incorporated into the French royal domain?
1486
The Comtat Venaissin around Avignon stayed papal until the Revolution, and Orange remained a Dutch principality until 1673.
Q 16Which Dutch royal house took its name from a principality inside Provence?
Orange-Nassau
William the Silent inherited the Principality of Orange, which Louis XIV finally annexed in 1673.
Q 17Roughly how many people died in the Great Plague of Marseille in 1720 to 1722?
40,000
By the end of that century Marseille had recovered to 120,000 people, the third-largest city in France.
Q 18Why is the French national anthem called La Marseillaise?
Volunteers from Marseille sang it in Paris
The song was actually written on the Rhine; the Marseille battalion carried it to the capital in 1792.
Q 19Which young artillery commander drove the British out of Provence's great naval port in December 1793?
Napoleon Bonaparte
The city was punished by being renamed Port la Montagne, while Marseille briefly became the "City without a Name".
Q 20In which year did Nice and Savoy become part of France?
1860
Napoleon III received them from Piedmont in return for helping to expel Austria from Italy.
Q 24The Camargue, western Europe's largest river delta, is formed by which river?
The Rhône
Its brine lagoons are one of the few European homes of the greater flamingo, and white Camargue horses roam the marshes.
Q 25What are the narrow rocky inlets between Marseille and Cassis called?
Calanques
They are ancient river mouths deepened by glaciers and flooded when the sea rose after the last ice age.
Q 26Which Provençal river's 20 km, 300-metre-deep limestone gorge is nicknamed a "Grand Canyon"?
The Verdon
The 20-kilometre limestone canyon is a favourite of climbers and sightseers.
Q 27Which city is the sunniest in metropolitan France, with about 2,899 hours of sunshine a year?
Toulon
It is also home to the naval base that Richelieu began and Vauban fortified.
Q 28What is the name of the low, aromatic scrubland typical of Provence's limestone soils?
Garrigue
Juniper, holm oak, lavender, sage, rosemary and wild thyme are its typical plants.
Q 29Vincent van Gogh lived in which Provençal town from February 1888 to May 1889?
Arles
He produced over 300 paintings and drawings there before moving to Saint-Rémy.
Q 30Where did Pablo Picasso spend his last years?
Mougins
He summered on the Côte d'Azur every year from 1919 to 1939 and moved there for good in 1946.